Tarheel Sports Car Club
Heel & Toe Newsletter

March 2015

  Tarheel Sports Car Club

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F&S Enterpirses
"F&S Enterprises will be taking photos at both our VIR events this year, be sure to stop by their trailer in the paddock, and visitwww.fandsenterprises.com after the events!"

Be sure to support all of our Sponsors by visiting the THSCC Sponsor Page!

 
Please welcome our newest members: Jeanne Ferneyhough

Upcoming THSCC Events

View all events online at MotorsportReg.com!

 

About the Heel of
the Month Award

"The Heel of the Month Award was started in 1993 to honor one or more THSCC members each month for his/her recent outstanding driving or for recognition of some special or notable action recently performed either within the club or outside of the club."

March Heel of the Month:

For March, we would like to recognize particular efforts recently assisting with cleanup and coordinating repairs for our bus that supports our events. This person has been a long time fast autocrosser and has been very helpful getting the season kicked off this year. He came to help with the Bus cleanup day, he assisted with getting the bus fuel pump repaired, and also drove the bus to the first autocross event of the year. Please join us in recognizing Jordan Normark as Heel of the Month!

 
Don't forget to join us for ourmonthly Club Meetings on the second Wednesday of every month at Randy's Pizza on Miami Blvd in Durham!
 

New THSCC Website -
we want your feedback!

Please take a moment to visit our newly launched website atwww.thscc.com and poke around and tell us what you think.

Send any suggestions or comments to our webmaster atwebmaster@thscc.com. We very much appreciate your feedback!

In This Edition

  • March Update
  • Kart Enduros
  • Heel of the Month
  • Autocross Report
  • Rallycross Report
  • Track Report

March Update

Greetings from THSCC! The year is underway, and it has been COLD in many parts of the state. We hope everyone has been staying warm and safe.

Unfortunately the bad weather has resulted in us having to reschedule our first two events, the Autocross Points Event #1 & Test-n-Tune as well as our Rallycross Points Event #1 & Novice School. Scheduling events this early in the year is always risky, and it didn't quite work out this time. However, we are still on track for events starting in March when things will start to warm up.

The Rallycross Points event will not be rescheduled, however the Rallycross School will be rescheduled for a later date. Keep an eye on our website, MotorsportReg for that event.

We appreciate your understanding and bearing with us with these event postponements and we look forward to seeing you at an event soon!

-Zach Hill, President

 

Kart Enduros

Our Kart enduro events registrations are online, and are filling up fast. Our April event is nearly full, and there are some spots left in the September event. Find the current entry lists at the links below.

Spots are limited, as the VIR Kart Track only has 12 karts, so thus only 12 team slots are available. Be sure to sign up early!

Registration links:

Also, keep an eye on our website as we may be announcing additional Kart Enduros this year...

 

Autocross Report

autox pic 
  

 

The Autocross season got of to a delayed start this year, with the original first event planned for February 21st but instead taking place on March 7thinstead. It turned out to be a great call. The original date proved to be freezing temperatures and snow. The new date, although starting below freezing, quickly gave way to sunshine and 50+ degrees temperatures for the opening test and tune event. Different than a traditional points event, the test and tune focus on maximum seat time and no competitive element to the day. We had 50 drivers for the day, split into two run groups and each got a morning and an afternoon heat lasting approximately an hour. The course was a fast, offset intensive course with times in the 45-55 second range for the top drivers. Although we considered a seperate skidpad area instead of just a traditional autocross course, we decided that the condition of the pavement just wasn't up for it. Everyone managed 8-10 runs for the day and we were done and set up for the next days event by 4:30.

Points event #1 got underway the next day and was a reversal of the test and tune courses with some practical changes made at the start and finish for safety reasons. This day featured an opening radius version of the famous Danville sweeper that had people "yee-haw"-ing into a fast slalom down the main runway. After a relatively high speed turnaround element, cars quickly hit the throttle again through some high speed offsets that required courage to stay in the gas. A tight braking zone into the "speed bump" transitioned drivers onto a different surface where grip was a bit less. After a final diagonal slalom and one last sweeper turn, the cars finished, again with times in the 45-55 second range for top drivers. We had 5 competition runs for the day, and 98 drivers.

Top PAX time was taken by David Spratte in his G-Street Focus ST. That looks like a very tough car to beat this year. Justin Barbry and Eric Peterson rounded out the top 3. Lots of people shaking out new to them cars at the event, including Matt McGrain, Brett Murphy, Dick Rasmussen, Lee Williams, and Rob Keehner (in a codrive offered from Steve Spampinato). Our club president brought out the Spec E30 to shake it down. Other notable returns to autocross for the day included Aaron Buckley, Bryan Hertwick, and Karl Shultz. There may have been others, but we were too lazy to investigate further...  :)

As the schedule continues to develop, watch our website andMotorsportReg for events for June, July and August coming shortly. See you there!

-THSCC Autocross Staff

Rallycross Report

The first rallycross of the season was held on Sunday, March 22 at the Wilson fairgrounds. The event had 25 attendees. The course was a little moist due to the rains the week before but the day turned out to be great. The weather was cool and the course was fast, producing very little dust. Kevin Allen, topped the field in NO4 and finished first overall in his STI, Quinten Bullock won SO4 in a WRX and Charlie Guthrie, driving his Golf, won SU2. We had quite a few novices driving their first rallycross and a few folks who hadn’t been out lately attend the event. We also had a few folks driving new or different cars/classes than last year. As usual, Charlie stayed late, using the tractor and landscape box to smooth the dirt that we moved around during the day.

Our April rallycross will be held at VIR on Sunday, April 12. It should be a great course layout and be somewhat reminiscent of a rally-sprint, weaving in and out of the tree lines with sections of smooth fast open areas.

In other news, some THSCC folks attended the 2015 NASA Rally Sport Sandblast rally in March including Kevin Allen and Elizabeth Cordara with crewmembers Courtney and Jeremy Gast of RallyCats Moterspurtz, finished 6th overall and won the Open Light class. Sebastian Kokoszka and Gage Gregory of Janko Import Cars finished 26th overall after having difficulties on a couple of the stages. Congratulations to those competing and many thanks to those who volunteered at the event!

Be part of the Fun… THSCC Rallycross.

-THSCC Rallycross Staff

Track Report

We're gearing up for full swing of the HPDE season! With three tech days completed and many cars inspected, folks are doing their final prep on their cars and getting ready for our first event on April 4-5 at VIR North Course. If you weren't able to make a tech day but want to run an HPDE event, contact us and we will work with you. We still have some spots open in several run groups, so be sure to get your registration in to reserve your spot.
Register here: http://msreg.com/THSCCVIRN2015

Next, we will head to Carolina Motorsport Park in Kershaw, SC for another two day HPDE weekend on June 6-7.
Registration: http://msreg.com/THSCCCMP2015

Whether you are a seasoned veteran or it's your first time at the track, it can be difficult to remember all the items you might need at the track. Club member Mike Whitney has compiled a checklist of useful items to bring with you to the track. While you may not need every one of these things (tools/spares) especially your first time, but the more events you attend, the better it is to be prepared in the case that you do. The track community is also a pretty friendly place to be, so if you happen to need something don’t be shy, most folks are glad to help a fellow attendee out.

Be sure to save a copy of the THSCC Track Checklist and reference it when you're heading to the track.

See you at the track!

-THSCC Track Staff